St. John tower demolition twice as long as planned

By Ignacio Laguarda

Published
12:00 am EST, Wednesday, February 6, 2019

The final phase of St. John's Tower A demolition began on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019 in Stamford, Connecticut. The city plans to perform demolition work from 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25 through 5 a.m. Monday, Jan. 28. Washington Boulevard is closed in both directions during the weekend demolition.The tower, one of three, in the St. John's complex, has been vacant for more than three years. The remaining two towers will remain standing.

The final phase of St. John's Tower A demolition began on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019 in Stamford, Connecticut. The city plans to perform demolition work from 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25 through 5 a.m. Monday, Jan. 28.

The final phase of St. John's Tower A demolition began on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019 in Stamford, Connecticut. The city plans to perform demolition work from 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25 through 5 a.m. Monday, Jan. 28. Washington Boulevard is closed in both directions during the weekend demolition.The tower, one of three, in the St. John's complex, has been vacant for more than three years. The remaining two towers will remain standing.

The final phase of St. John's Tower A demolition began on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019 in Stamford, Connecticut. The city plans to perform demolition work from 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25 through 5 a.m. Monday, Jan. 28.

STAMFORD — The demolition of one of the St. John towers was expected to be complete after two weekends, but delays have stretched the work out into a month-long project.

Now, demolition crews have decided to close Washington Boulevard both ways every night this week, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., to finish by next Monday.

Originally, work was expected to be completed by Jan. 21, after demolition began Jan. 11, and only the northbound right lane of Washington Boulevard was going to be closed. But, the tear-down was unexpectedly halted a few days later, as workers were concerned that concrete connected to exposed metal and rebar would become dislodged and fall to the ground.

Demolition crews are taking down the main St. John Tower structure by knocking it down floor-by-floor with an orange high-reach excavator.

The elevated sense of danger led officials to close both northbound lanes of Washington Boulevard and put the work on pause for the weekend of Jan. 18. Eventually, full demolition resumed on the weekends of Jan. 25 and Feb. 1, with all northbound and southbound lanes of Washington Boulevard closed.

Now, toexpedite the project, demolition will continue every night this week. On Friday, Feb. 8, Washington Boulevard will again close at 9 p.m. and stay closed over the entire weekend until 5 a.m. Monday, Feb. 11.